Moonlit Conversation
by KatonRyu
Summary: Rukato OneShot. This takes place directly after Runaway Locomon. Rika and Takato have a conversation, during which Rika realizes what Takato really means to her.


**Well, Necroexodia did it. I actually wrote a fic for Digimon and finished it before any of my other projects I'm supposed to be working on. Kudos. Not that I'm not working on those, I just wanted to do this first. Read and Review, please. Flames accepted as always, just not the pairing. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or the song Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls.**

**Moonlit Conversation**

The moon was bright and a light breeze ruffled the grass of the yard. From inside the old, traditional Japanese-looking house came the sounds of music, laughter and conversation. Not everyone was inside enjoying the activity, however.

Staring over the water of the pond was a young girl with red hair and violet eyes. She appeared to be lost in thought as she gazed at the reflection of the full moon in the clear water, some carp just barely visible under the surface.

"Rika?" a voice said from behind her.

She turned around, facing a boy about her age, with messy brown hair and goggles on his head.

"Are you okay?" the boy asked, his brown eyes filled with concern.

Rika shrugged and turned back to the water. She was still thinking about the events of the day. She and her friends had stopped a runaway Locomon, who had turned out to be possessed by Parasimon. During that episode, however, she too had been possessed by Parasimon. It had sent her back into her memories, to a day in the park with her dad.

She was singing then, and even though she enjoyed it she hadn't sung since her dad had left. Parasimon, however, had caused the fact that she liked to sing to resurface, and now her friends knew.

When Kazu had told her to sing earlier that night, she'd stood up and walked out. Since then, she'd been sitting there, thinking.

"Rika?" Takato asked again.

"I'm fine," Rika replied softly. "Just go back inside to the others. You don't have to worry about me."

Takato frowned. He'd wanted to talk to Rika earlier, but Renamon had told him not to. Instead of listening to Rika he sat down next to her.

"Kazu didn't mean anything with it, you know," he said.

"Look, Goggle-head, I don't need your stupid pity, okay? I'm fine," Rika said angrily.

"I'm just worried about you," Takato said.

He frowned angrily, recalling earlier events. "When Jeri had been captured by the D-Reaper, I didn't pay enough attention and I didn't even know she'd been replaced by an Agent," he continued.

Rika turned to face him. "The D-Reaper is gone. Besides, I'm not Jeri; the D-Reaper could never capture me even if it was still around," she said.

She wished Takato would just go back inside. His presence made her uncomfortable.

Takato shook his head. "That's not what I mean. I'm just trying to say, I don't want to let my friends down again, like I did then. Rika, keeping everything to yourself won't do you any good."

Rika scowled. Although she had changed a lot from who she had been, she still wasn't the type to talk about feelings and stuff like that.

"I told you before and I'll tell you again: I don't need pity. Do you understand that, Goggle-head?" she said acidly.

"What did Parasimon make you see?" Takato asked, ignoring Rika's question.

Rika wanted to tell Takato to mind his own business, but to her own surprise she said, "My dad…"

Takato nodded, as if he'd been expecting that. "I see. You don't see him much, do you?" he asked.

Rika shook her head. "No, my parents are divorced and my dad lives on the other side of the country. But what are you, my therapist?" she added when she realized she was talking about herself.

"The song you sung…did you used to sing it with him?" Takato went on, ignoring Rika again.

"Why do you care so much? I'm not depressed like Jeri was, so why the attention?" she asked.

Takato sighed. "You don't get it, do you? Do you think that because you're not Jeri you're any less important? You're my friend, Rika. I care about you, and I hate seeing you like this. You're not depressed but you're bothered by what happened just the same. I want to help you, be there for you, but to do that I need to know exactly what's bothering you," he said, looking straight into Rika's eyes.

Rika was taken aback by the incredibly caring tone in Takato's voice. She realized that his concern wasn't pity, but genuine worry. And he'd said he wanted to be there for her…no one had ever said that to her. And while she realized that, she also realized how important Takato had become for her.

Because of him, she'd opened up and dropped the harsh façade she'd hidden behind for so long. Of course, Henry and Jeri and the others had helped too, but in the end it had been Takato who had changed her most, especially by the way he cared about Guilmon and his friends.

"He taught me that song when I was little," Rika said, "He said that whenever I sang it, he'd feel it in his heart even if he was far away."

Takato smiled, happy that Rika seemed to open up to him now.

"So…why did you stop singing it?" he asked.

Rika sighed and stared at the pond. One of the carp was nibbling on a bit of greenery.

"Over time, I saw him less and less. I thought he didn't care anymore," she nearly whispered.

"So you figured, if he doesn't care I don't have to either?"

Rika shook her head. "That's not it. It's…I felt sad when I thought of him, because I hardly ever saw him. I missed him, Takato, and I still do. If I didn't sing that song I wouldn't have to think about him, so…"

She didn't finish her sentence, but Takato got the idea and nodded. Rika was amazed at how natural it felt to talk to Takato, and how relieved it made her feel to get it off her chest. He really was a great friend. Perhaps…perhaps he was more than that. She blushed lightly at the thought.

"You wanted to hear me sing, right?" she said suddenly.

Takato looked taken aback, but he smiled and said, "Yes, I'd love to. You're really good at it."

"This song is different, but you might recognize it," Rika said.

Takato raised an eyebrow, waiting for Rika to begin. Rika took a deep breath, closed her eyes and started to sing.

**And I'd give up forever to touch you**  
'**Cause I know that you feel me somehow****  
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be****  
And I don't want to go home right now**

**And all I can taste is this moment  
And all I can breathe is your life**  
'**Cause sooner or later it's over****  
I just don't want to miss you tonight**

**And I don't want the world to see me**  
'**Cause I don't think that they'd understand****  
When everything's made to be broken****  
I just want you to know who I am**

**And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming****  
Or the moment of truth in your lies****  
When everything feels like the movies  
Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive**

**And I don't want the world to see me**  
'**Cause I don't think that they'd understand****  
When everything's made to be broken****  
I just want you to know who I am**

**And I don't want the world to see me**  
'**Cause I don't think that they'd understand****  
When everything's made to be broken****  
I just want you to know who I am****  
I just want you to know who I am****  
I just want you to know who I am**

"I just want you to know who I am…" Rika finished softly.

She closed her eyes, waiting for Takato to laugh at her, but he didn't.

"That was great, Rika," he said with a big smile.

Rika smiled back, hoping that she'd explained her feelings well enough with the song.

"Do you…do you mean it?" Takato asked, suddenly nervous.

Rika blushed, but she said, "Yeah, I do. You've done so much for me since this all began. Everyone has, but you…the way you always look out for all of us, the way you are with Guilmon…And the way you helped me just now…Yeah, you could say you mean a lot to me."

Then, as an afterthought, she added, "Goggle-head."

Takato smiled, blushing slightly from Rika's words. He swallowed hard, causing Rika to raise an eyebrow and look at him. She could almost see his heart pounding against his ribs.

She wondered what he was thinking about, and about two seconds later she got her answer.

Takato leaned in close and quickly kissed her. She felt his lips touch hers, a brief moment of a warm and soft feeling. She stiffened and felt her heartbeat quicken to match Takato's frantic pulse, and her face heat up to the temperature of Guilmon's Pyro Sphere.

Several things went through her mind. One was that she was going to kill him for doing that out of the blue.

The other, much more prevalent thought was that she wanted it to last longer.

She saw that Takato had his eyes squeezed shut, obviously expecting the beating of his life.

"Sorry…" he mumbled.

"Don't ruin the moment, Goggle-head," Rika said softly.

Takato looked up, surprised that Rika didn't seem to mind. She leaned closer to him and again their lips touched, this time with more feeling.

Rika savored the moment and imprinted everything she felt into her memory. The feel of Takato's lips beneath hers, the heat that he radiated as he was blushing, the feeling of her heart beating like a drum…it seemed to be magical and she had no idea how long it lasted, but it felt like both a second and an eternity, all at once.

The ending, however, was less magical.

"No way!" a voice said.

Rika and Takato quickly broke their kiss and looked up at the person who'd spoken.

"You're actually making out?" Kazu asked, a huge grin forming on his face.

"Kazu! If you have the guts to tell _anyone_ about this…" Rika threatened.

She felt her face heat up even more, this time with rage. Kazu smirked, and Rika knew what he was going to do.

"I'm going to kill you!" she roared, and lunged at Kazu, who ran away laughing maniacally.

Rika ran after him, leaving a bemused Takato behind. Renamon appeared next to him.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Before Takato could answer he heard Rika yell, "I am so going to kill you, you stupid idiot!"

"What did he do?" Renamon asked.

Takato blushed again. "Well, he…"

He hesitated, but then he figured that Kazu had probably told everyone what he'd seen by now.

"I, um…I kissed Rika," Takato said. "And then she kissed me back, and then Kazu saw us," he went on.

"And that's bad because?" Renamon asked, clueless for once.

"Kazu and Kenta won't let us hear the end of it," Takato explained. "And our parents…"

He fell silent and his face paled.

"Oh God, they're going to want to talk about the birds and the bees now…" he muttered, looking sick.

Renamon blinked a few times.

"The birds and the bees?" she asked, even more confused than before.

"I don't know why they call it that, either," Takato said.

"I mean, what does it mean?" Renamon clarified.

"Oh," Takato finally caught on, "Digimon don't have parents, do they? Well…do you know how babies are made?"

He felt a bit stupid, not to mention very embarrassed, asking that, but he decided to ignore the feeling.

"Yeah, I do," Renamon replied. "But what does this have to do with birds and bees?"

Takato shook his head. "It's just a stupid euphemism. But seriously, it's years too early for Rika and me to be doing that kind of stuff."

Renamon gave him a blank stare. She had no idea what Takato was talking about. When he paled again, she asked, "What did you think of this time?"

Takato shivered. "My mom…she might actually…put condoms in my room…" he said in a monotone voice.

"What?" Renamon was getting more and more confused.

"They're things humans use when they do the thing to make babies, to make sure there won't be any babies," Takato explained in the same monotone.

Renamon said nothing. This was a human concept she had no knowledge of, and it seemed to be very contradictory.

'_What a weird species…'_ she thought.

"Let's just say I'm not looking forward to that conversation," Takato said.

Before Renamon could say anything Rika came back. She was still red, both from rage and embarrassment.

"Once I get my hands on Kazu he's going to wish he'd never been born," she said angrily, sitting down next to Takato.

"If you don't kill him, I will," Takato answered.

"My life is over," he said, sighing deeply.

"Both our lives," Rika corrected.

"And Kazu's, too…" she added darkly.

"Do you realize what our parents are going to do now?" Takato asked, looking sick again.

Rika groaned. "My mom was halfway into a birds and bees story when I cut her off. Just like her to say something about that when the room's full of people," she said, shivering.

Takato give her a sympathetic look. "And I thought my mom was bad," he said.

Rika noticed that Renamon was still staring blankly ahead, as if trying to figure something out.

"Renamon, are you okay?"

Renamon snapped out of her trance and smiled.

"I'm just attempting to make sense of what you're talking about," she said. "Humans seem very contradictory in this regard."

Rika shot Takato a glance. "What did you tell her?" she asked.

Takato shrugged. "The horrors our parents are going to inflict on us. I guess it's a bit hard to follow if you don't have parents," he said.

Rika sighed. "Trust me, Renamon, when that conversation is over you'll wish you'd never heard it," she said.

"Is it that bad?" Renamon asked.

Rika nodded. "Oh yeah. The D-Reaper was nothing compared to this," she said.

Takato nodded in agreement. "At least then we could go home to rest. Now we'll be haunted wherever we go," he said.

For a while, no one spoke. They just sat there staring at the pond, not knowing what to say. Then Rika's mom came outside.

"Rika?" she said softly.

Rika sighed. "Here we go," she whispered to Takato and Renamon.

"Yeah?" she said to her mom.

"Your dad's on the phone," her mom said.

Rika's eyes widened. She shot Takato, who'd also been caught off guard, a glance.

"I'm coming," she said softly, following her mom back inside.

"Dad?" she said when she picked up the phone.

"Hey sweetie, congratulations," her father's voice said on the other side. Rika felt her eyes burn. It had been so long since she'd last talked to her dad…

"Thanks…" she choked.

"How have you been? I'm sorry I didn't call you sooner, but things were pretty hectic here," her dad said.

"I'm fine, dad. I have great friends now, and I suppose I have a boyfriend, although it's not official or anything," Rika replied.

"I'm glad to hear you're doing well," her dad said. "Your mom told me you've had quite the adventure a while back, and again today. I'm glad you're safe," he continued.

Rika was so happy the talk to her dad again, to hear his voice, that she missed the actual words at first.

Then she realized what he had said and she said, "Mom told you? How much did she say?"

"She tells me you have a partner called Renamon, who resembles a talking fox," her dad said.

"And that you and your friends have saved the world from that red mass that appeared everywhere. I'm so proud of you, Rika," he went on.

"I didn't do it alone. All my friends helped me," Rika said, thinking of Takato in particular.

"And is your more-or-less boyfriend one of those people too?" her dad asked.

"Yeah. He made me open up a bit more," Rika said, feeling a wave of affection for Takato.

"It's good to hear that you have so many great friends now," her dad said, sounding relieved.

"I'm sorry I can't be there more often…" he said softly.

"It's okay; I still have our song, right?" Rika said, smiling.

"You sang it today, didn't you?" her dad inquired.

Rika was surprised, but she said, "Yeah…how did you know?"

Her dad chuckled. "I told you, when you sing that song I can feel it. That song is something that's ours alone. No one can ever take that away from us, even if we're miles apart."

Again Rika felt the sting of tears in her eyes. So her dad could really feel it…it was strange to learn that the connection between her and her father was so strong, even now, that he knew when she sang the song he'd taught her so long ago.

"Dad…" Rika whispered softly, "I miss you…"

"I miss you too, sweetie…" her dad replied.

"As soon as I can, I'll come over. When I do, I want you to tell me all about your adventure and those creatures, Digimon. Besides," he added, and Rika could hear he was grinning, "I want to meet your friends, and in particular that boy you were kissing with earlier."

Rika's eye twitched and in her mind she beat Kazu into a bloody pulp.

"Did mom tell you that as well?" she groaned.

Her dad laughed, and the sound of it seemed to quench Rika's anger. "Yeah, she did. Don't worry, I won't tease you anymore…but just wait until I see you again and meet that boy," he said mischievously.

"Just do me one favor and say nothing to embarrass me," Rika pleaded.

"I won't, don't worry. I'll let you know when I come over, okay?" he said.

"Yeah. Try not to take too long, okay?" Rika asked, softly again.

"I promise. I've missed you long enough," her father said.

"Thanks dad. I'm glad I could talk to you again," Rika said, smiling widely.

"So am I. I'll see you soon, Rika. And remember: if you sing that song I'll know, and I'll think about you," her dad said.

"I'll remember it. I love you, dad," Rika whispered.

"I love you too, sweetie."

With that, he hung up the phone. Rika put the phone back and went back outside, where Takato was still waiting for her. He looked at her expectantly.

Rika sat down next to him and said, "He's coming over soon."

She still couldn't believe it. After more than a year she'd finally talked to her dad again, and she'd actually see him again soon.

Takato smiled. "That's great, Rika. I'm happy for you."

Rika smiled back at him. "So am I, Takato, so am I…"

Then she kissed him again, and let the magic take her away.

**Well, that's it. Hope you liked it, and don't forget to review! See ya next time!**


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